San Diego: Week One of Three Weekend Extravaganza

First of all I am warning you that this is image heavy.

I have been seriously putting this off (why, you ask? I have no idea), but here you have it: weekend #1 of our 3 weekend extravaganza.

I use the word extravaganza because a) we don't often take a weekend to go out of town, b) we took THREE weekends in a row to go out of town, and c) when it was all said and done on Monday we both woke up SUPER early (me unnecessarily and Dave for work) with stomach aches and couldn't sleep. Dave got ready for work, I took a shower, brushed my teeth, plopped on the couch downstairs and sipped some peppermint tea while watching Inside the Actor's Studio. Dave had been complaining of major belly aches. He went to work anyway. It wasn't long after I finished my cup of tea that he was back home. He didn't even make it to work. He was sick.

We both went back to bed and slept for hours.

We never do that. Well, I wish we did, but Dave is an up and Adam type of guy who feels like sleeping in is a waste of a day. To me, sleeping in sounds like a great day.

Anyway, we were both POOPED. I guess we're just not used to this kind of action. I mean, we're getting older (especially me) and galavanting all over town(s) just isn't my thing anymore (I mean, I'm nearing 30, let's just be honest).

Soooo, here's the first installment of 3 weekend extravaganza.

Weekend #1: San Diego

The Zoo

I adore going to zoos. I adore animals of all kinds. I tend to like them more than I do people (sorry humans). Anytime we visit a new state, I try to visit the local zoo. I once went to the Oregon Zoo alone and spent hours there. It was one of my absolute favorite days ever. Our whole weekend trip to San Diego was based solely on the fact that Jeff (mom's bf) got me free tickets that were soon to expire, so we chose a weekend and went with it. I'm so glad we did. These are a few of my favorite shots.

Gaslamp District

We stayed at The Sofia Hotel (and loved it) here in the Gaslamp. The adjoining restaurant Currant Brasserie was super tasty and stylish. We could not get enough of the Chive Tots and I adored the house red sangria. It's such a cute little part of the city with a huge nightlife. I guess you could say it's the trendy part of the city.

Old Town

This is my favorite part of San Diego (besides the zoo). A few years ago my family took a trip to SD and we went to Old Town, but we didn't see nearly as much that time as we did this time. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Next time we visit SD I'm going to look into getting a room at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Saloon. LOVED that place. It was so old-timey and sooo me!

Little Italy

Honestly, there wasn't much to it. At least not during the day.

Vin de Syrah

Okay, here's the deal with this place: It is really hip and trendy, decorated like Alice In Wonderland (awesome), and the wine is fantastic, BUT at night it becomes this weird club. I don't know, we were really enjoying it's laid back, yet classy style, until it got funky. 

I had also made a reservation for the wine tasting, which was the whole reason we went there, and when we got there, 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time as they instructed us to do so, we sat at the empty 14 seat table wondering if we were going to be the only ones wine tasting (awwwwkwaaaaaaard), until all of a sudden (10 minutes after the scheduled tasting) 6 scantily clad girls show up and sit down. One of them asked us if we were part of the "party" and when Dave said, "The wine tasting? Yeah." she said, "Oh." 10 more minutes later 6 other girls show up as part of the same party. 

We were the odd couple. 

That's when it felt reaaaally awkward. Finally, about 35 minutes after the wine tasting was supposed to start, Dave talked to the guy dressed like Conor Oberst who was about to lead the tasting and told him we felt uncomfortable sitting with the group of bachelorettes, like we were crashing their party. He fully understood and cancelled our reservation with free delicious wine to boot. Immediately after we found another spot to sit and sip, 2 other chicks show up, taking our seats...

Apparently our reservation was never penciled in and we were never informed.

We still had a good time, though. I would like to go back for the actual tasting because it looked BOMB.

Coronado

We almost didn't visit this pretty little island. We decided at the last minute to drive out to it before driving home and we were really glad we did. It was so cute. All the houses and shops were adorable and it had a gorgeous view of the city.

Click here to view a lot more photos at my Flickr.

a few of my favorite things lately

It's my 100th post today! 

I probably wouldn't have even noticed my number of posts had it not been brought to my attention by Kacie recently with her 200th post post, so thank you for bringing it to my attention without even realizing it Kacie! <3

p.s. I need to catch up with you, haha :)

There are a few things I've been really into lately.

It's been pretty cold out 

and I am loving & celebrating it 

by lighting the fireplace, 

which fascinates Bogart to no end.

And when there's a fireplace, 

there's gotta be some roasting of marshmallows 

and possibly making s'mores. 

I'm not a fan of Hershey's chocolate at all,

which means when I make s'mores it is usually sans chocolate,

but the other night I thought,

"Why not use a piece of my Godiva dark chocolate with raspberry??" 

and oh boy was it yummy!

If I'm not having a s'more, 

I'm having a cup of diet hot chocolate 

and, of course, marshmallows 

(I've been really into chocolate lately).

I looooooooove sweet potatoes 

(or yams, whatever you want to call them, I'm still confused) 

and my favorite version is spicy sweet potato baked fries. 

Delish.

And berries. I adore berries of all kinds. 

This week it's blueberries and blackberries.

Bogart in a festive hat. 

He hated the hat and fought it off immediately after Dave sat him down 

(there's proof below), but he looked so adorable!

And my most favorite thing of all: my David and his cute little texts.

This video is of Bogart desperately trying to tear off his hat. 

The first 20 seconds are pretty boring, so you can skip it, 

but after that it gets pretty funny. 

He goes nuts! 

Also, at the end it looks like I kick him, but I don't. 

I gently nudged him with my foot for scratching at the carpet 

and he jumped back a little. 

Don't worry, I'm not a cruel mommy!